Design and implementation of a RFID based prototype SmArt LibrARY (SALARY) system using wireless sensor networks

Abstract

"There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read" - G.K. Chesterton With the colossal collection of traditional and digital including books, journals, audio materials, photographs, e-journals, e-books, web resources and more in recent years, finding an o'nymous item is becoming more and more difficult, resulting in a number of practical conflicts. The accessing and the procurement of the details pertaining to a publication is becoming an ubiquitous problem. Widespread use of wireless technologies paired with the recent advances in the wireless applications, manifests that digital data dissemination could be the key to solve emerging problems. Wireless Sensor Network technology has attracted increased attention and is rapidly emerging due to their enormous application potential in diverse fields. This buoyant field is expected to provide an efficient and cost-effective solution to the effluent problems. This paper proposes a SmArt LibrARY (SALARY) System based on wireless sensor network technology which provides advanced features like automatic update in the addition/deletion of a publication, automated guidance, and item reservation mechanism. The paper describes the overall system architecture of SALARY from hardware to software implementation in the view point of sensor networks. We implemented a full-fledged prototype system for library management to realize the design functionalities and features mentioned. Our preliminary test results show that the performance of this WSN based system can effectively satisfy the needs and requirements of existing integrated library system hassles thereby minimizing the time consumed to find the slot of thou publication, real-time information rendering, and smart reservation mechanisms. © 2012 Springer-Verlag GmbH.